The Ni'lyahin Smugglers were a band of rogues and assassins that operated during the era of the Galactic Civil War.
Following the Rebel Alliance's detonation of the Galactic Empire's Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, the resulting cataclysm scattered debris of varying sizes throughout the nearby cosmos. News of the colossal war station's demise spread quickly, prompting a rush to the Yavin system by numerous parties seeking to claim valuable Imperial technology. The Ni'lyahin Smugglers were among these opportunistic groups, hoping to salvage intact components of the station for resale on the black market.
The Empire swiftly established a blockade to curb further scavenging. Despite this, the Ni'lyahin Smugglers remained in the isolated star system, flourishing as they waged their own struggle against the Empire and its oppressive regime. They seized control of several spatial regions within the system, including the Ferrous Aurora Nebula and the surrounding Ferrous Aurora quadrant, which they now claim as their own territory, the Smuggler's Run quadrant, the Nebulon 7 sector, and the vicinity of the destroyed space station Nova 3.
In space combat, the Ni'lyahin Smugglers utilized Z-95-AF4 Headhunters and BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighters.
The Ni'lyahin Smugglers feature as one of the various factions present in the Yavin system within Sony Online Entertainment's MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, introduced with the game's initial expansion pack, Jump to Lightspeed. The smugglers are also referenced on the Star Chart page for the Yavin system on the official Star Wars Galaxies website, which was reproduced in the Star War Galaxies strategy guides.
Within these sources, the smugglers are initially portrayed as "visitors" who arrived in the system following the Death Star's explosion. However, the description of the Ferrous Aurora Nebula identifies it as their home, further stating that the nebula's inhabitants originated from Yavin 4, "having acquired space travel later than most, and only through the theft of technology." The correct account remains ambiguous, as no other sources mention such a group of smugglers originating from Yavin 4.